This post is also available in: Spanish French Portuguese (Brazil)
When I arrived in the United States, my first priority was to learn English, and one of my initial curiosities, among others, was how to say the Spanish “se” in this language I was acquiring. I asked my English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, and she calmly replied: “they”.
But how could it be they if “se” doesn’t refer to anyone in particular? Well, I gradually realized that it was they, among other forms used in English for other functions of “se”.
The complexity of “se” in teaching
The “se” in Spanish has different grammatical functions, I tell my Spanish students, and I know it’s difficult to understand. But we try: I try to explain and they try to understand and apply. Let’s look at some examples for students or those interested in this Spanish structure.
English-speaking students make different mistakes due to the absence of an equivalent structure in their language. For instance, they might say “Yo levanto a las siete”, instead of “Yo me levanto a las siete”.
It’s common for Spanish speakers to be unable to explain the use of “se” even though they use it perfectly, as they do so intuitively and not everyone has done in-depth grammar studies.
The discovery of the “accidental se”
I remember the first time I had to explain the “accidental se”. I’ve always known that if se me cae un plato se rompe (if a plate falls, it breaks), or that if se me va el avión tendré que esperar otro (if I miss the plane, I’ll have to wait for another). However, knowing how to use it is one thing, explaining it is another.
After my initial reaction that “language is like that, it’s not an exact science where two plus two always equals four”, I set out to investigate and learned that there exists this “accidental se” and other variants, for example, the “aspectual se” and the “interest se”, in forms like aprender(se) la lección, beber(se) la cerveza, comer(se) toda la comida, fumar(se) un cigarro, gastar(se) el dinero or leer(se) la novela.
What a little word, so small and with so many rules.
Difficulties of “se” in Spanish for English speakers
1. Differentiation between reflexive and non-reflexive verbs
In English, many verbs don’t require reflexive pronouns where they are mandatory in Spanish. For example, “I wake up” is translated as “Me despierto”, and “I shower” as “Me ducho”. English speakers tend to omit the reflexive pronoun or use it incorrectly because in English there isn’t an equivalent structure for many of these verbs.
2. Confusion between direct object, indirect object, and reflexive pronouns
In Spanish, reflexive and indirect object pronouns can have the same form (“me”, “te”, “se”, etc.), but their function is different. In English, object pronouns (“me”, “him”, “her”) don’t distinguish between reflexive and indirect in the same way, which leads to errors such as using “me” instead of “myself” or vice versa, or confusing “le” with “se”.
3. Pronoun placement
The position of pronouns in Spanish (before the conjugated verb or after the infinitive) differs from English, where pronouns usually go after the verb. This can cause errors in word order (“baño me” instead of “me baño”).
4. Redundant use of pronouns
In Spanish, it’s common to use both the pronoun and the prepositional complement (“Le di el libro a Juan”), while in English redundancy is preferably avoided (“I gave the book to John” vs. “I gave him the book”). This can be confusing for English speakers.
5. Negative Transfer and Simplification
Many errors are due to the transfer of English structures and simplification strategies, such as omitting pronouns or prepositions necessary in Spanish.
The English version of this article shows some practical examples of how to identify and translate the Spanish “se” and reduce the difficulties of its use in English.
Practice
This post is also available in: Spanish French Portuguese (Brazil)
